Nov. 3, 2009

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina head football coach Steve Spurrier, defensive back Akeem Auguste and wide receiver Tori Gurley met with the media on Tuesday to discuss this Saturday’s game vs. Arkansas.

South Carolina Head Coach Steve Spurrier

Opening Statement
“Looking forward to playing Arkansas, our common opponent on the (SEC West) side. Since I’ve been here, we’ve been 2-2 with them. There are a lot of similarities between us and Arkansas, except they have probably been a little bit better. It seems like over the years they have been a little bit behind Alabama, Auburn and LSU. They have been to the SEC Championship game three times. They have done pretty well and Bobby Petrino and his staff are doing a good job, they are 4-4, leading the conference in pass offense, second in total offense. They move the ball around. If we are going to beat them we need to play a little better than we have been offensively, but we’re looking forward to the challenge and looking forward to playing our second day game of the season and we’ll be able to get back to Columbia at a decent hour and not be so tired Sunday morning. They are a good team that had a big win last week, and they are certainly looking forward I’m sure to their last four games. They have four more, we just have three more. Looking forward to going out there. I hope we can play a lot better, have fewer mistakes, take care of the ball a lot better, and give ourselves a chance to win. We’ve won a lot of games this year when the other team messed up, the other team had touchdowns called back, and that’s sort of what happened to us last game and hopefully we will not repeat that. We’re looking forward to this game with Arkansas.”

On where the team is at this point
“We play a bunch of freshmen, but we aren’t using that as any kind of excuse. We’re 6-3 and that’s pretty good for this team. We are proud of our guys. I think they will rebound and give a good account of themselves as we go play Arkansas this week.”

Thoughts on this weekend’s game vs. Arkansas
“We’re looking forward to this game. They are a good team, they’re at home and had a big win last week but we feel like we can play a lot better than we have recently, so we’re going to try to do it.”

On the team dealing with adversity
“I think they have responded very well to adversity. We’ve had some bad things happen, but they’ve been able to bounce back and win those games. Obviously, we couldn’t overcome the quick 21 that happened last week, but the guys hung in there and fought through the second half.”

“We don’t feel bad, we have a bunch of good guys playing. We aren’t putting any pressure on our guys. They are trying to play as hard as they can every game. Our job is to get them out there and put them in position to go play. For me the best thing to do is to play pressure free. We are looking forward to just going and playing. We are looking forward to this game; there is no pressure on our guys. We aren’t going to have a losing record this season, but we would still love to get that seventh win. We would love to get it this week if we possibly can and then go from there.”

“We know it’s going to be a close, hard fought game and we have a chance to win. That is where our confidence is right now. We still have a lot of coaching to do with these players and we still believe our big seasons are a little bit down the road. We are looking forward to this game.”

Akeem Auguste

On Facing Ryan Mallett
“I caught a couple of games, but we’re going to watch a lot of film on him today. I know he likes to throw it in there so hopefully we can sneak one out of him.”

On possibly starting at free safety
“It’s Tuesday. We’ve had a long season and we haven’t had a bye week yet. People are banged up. If that’s where coach is going to put me this week then who knows. I’ve been getting reps at both (safety and corner).”

On being suspended earlier in the season
“I let my teammates down. I had a talk with my teammates heart to heart and I just let them know it won’t happen again. I’ve learned my lesson and I am here for the long run.”

On fatigue being a factor
“Everybody is banged up. We’re going to have to play through our little injuries but it’s nothing severe so we should be alright.”

On expectations coming into the season as young players
“Everybody thought we were going to be good, but we knew we were going to be good. We just feel like we have a big test this week and we’ll go out ready to play.”

Tori Gurley

“Right now we just want to finish strong. The coaches have really been harping on us telling us just to stay focused and don’t let any outsiders contribute to what’s going on. Let us stick together and gel as a team and finish up strong and the rest of it will take care of itself.”

On Stephen Garcia and Moe Brown pushing practice to be more intense
“They are doing their part and everyone else is holding themselves accountable to go out and make plays. Physically we’re a little tired and we’re trying to get through this season, but we’re going to continue to dig deep and be ready for these next games and hopefully go out and win.”

On the receiving corps
“We have a core of receivers that are really good. We have Jason Barnes, he’s playing well; (Alshon Jeffery), Moe Brown, D.L. Moore, Stephen Flint. We just have a core group that is really talented.